In the era where principal filming can finish before a character is cast, it has been confirmed that Ciaran Hinds, who portrays Mance Rayder in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has just finished his work on DC Films’ Justice League as the villainous alien Steppenwolf. Even back in June of this year, producer Deborah Snyder said they still had not quite nailed down an actor for the role, but were close.

After Warner Bros. released a deleted scene from Batman v Superman where Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is seen communicating with a mysterious alien looking figure, fans were wondering who it was. The motion capture character from an alien planet did not resemble the look from the comics. It took a few weeks before his identity was confirmed.

Since this is Steppenwolf’s first appearance in the DC films universe since the deleted scene, insiders have said his look will be upgraded.

Justice League‘s filming has been finished for a while, even though this major role had not yet been cast. But thanks to the technology of performance capture, like Josh Brolin’s role as Thanos for Marvel, Hinds’ character can be added to the post production work.

The deleted clip shows Luthor communicating with Steppenwolf using the Kryptonian ship, with the villain levitating three of the Mother Boxes before disintegrating. These Mother Boxes will be the object of Steppenwolf’s pursuit and will play a big role in Justice League. It’s been reported the three boxes, an Atlantean one, an Amazonian on, and a human one, work best when they are in threes, teased producer Charles Roven: “The Amazonians and the old gods came together and decided that based on an even that happened, these Mother Boxes were going to be place in the care of the Amazonians, the Mankind and the Atlanteans.”

The Mother boxes are technology from Apokalips, where Steppenwolf serves as the military leader for the ruler Darkseid. As far as we know, Darkseid will not make an appearance in this film.

Justice League is the fifth movie for the DC Extended Universe, following Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and next summer’s Wonder Woman.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder and will be released November 17, 2017.